[10867] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: clarifying NAP discussions
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Karl Denninger)
Sun Mar 13 00:14:15 1994
From: karl@mcs.com (Karl Denninger)
To: kharmon@krh.com (Ken Harmon)
Date: Sat, 12 Mar 1994 18:41:33 -0600 (CST)
Cc: karl@mcs.com, com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <199403120311.AA26756@teal.csn.org> from "Ken Harmon" at Mar 11, 94 08:11:52 pm
> >Keep the government out of it. Private enterprise is doing quite a nice
> >job in the Internet area, thank you very much.
> >
> The solution here is to
> >force the cable plant to be made available to any and all comers for the
> >cost of maintenance; the public has already paid for the cable plant
> >through monopoly practice, and as such IMHO the telco is not entitled to
> >recover a red cent of that "investment" -- it was made at ZERO risk.
> >
>
> I think you will have a conflict here; keeping govt out but 'forcing' the
> cable cos to provide service at minimal/maint cost. Sounds like a Public
> Utilities Commission role, which is govt.
>
> I think the solution is to inform more people about the value of the
> Internet while increasing the value as well. Rural populations (and urban
> as well) will pay for services for which there is an obvious value, and
> will not use free services if there is no value.
The problem is that there is STILL a monopoly on the access media -- cable
experiments such as that announced by Continental and PSI notwithstanding.
Two is still a monopoly situation if there is no room (or access for) #3
when he/she/they come along.
The reason that Chicago has such reasonable Internet rates, as one example,
is that there are multiple competing providers. That is the essence of
competition -- better service and lower prices for the consumer. You void
that when you step into the non-competitive marketplace, and that is
EXACTLY the situation with the cable TV and telco firms.
They LIKE it this way.
Sure, Ameritech wants to allow people to do local service. They want into
long distance in return. The problem is that they got their ENTIRE
PHYSICAL PLANT installed at no risk to them (fixed rate of return as
guaranteed by law) and MOST of that was put in 10 years ago! Its LONG
since been paid for, and the cost of entry for any competitor is
prohibitive.
Now, if they had to tear it ALL out and do it over, with NO guarantee of a
return (ie: open competition) I'd say "let 'em at it". But that's not
reality, and won't be anytime soon. Therefore, the only way to provide
fair access to the markets is to take over, or force access to at the cost
of maintenance, the physical plant they got for "free" on the backs of the
ratepayers for all these years.
You want to solve the "tragedy of the rural area" problelm? Force the
Telcos to provide flat rate <phone> service, including BONDed ISDN.
That'll get you to the big city, where you can find lots of competing
providers hungry for your business at reasonable rates.
Or give it up and accept that there are COSTS to living in the boonies --
one of them is that the cost of telecommunications is going to be higher
until and unless someone comes up with a way to break the technical barriers
there. In any event, get rid of the monopoly protection that the telcos
(and cable cos) currently enjoy.
--
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